The One That Got Away?
by americalover94
Summary: AU. Arthur and Alfred are two teachers married and living a content life together. They weren't always happily together though. Here's the story of how the two melding teachers from Passing Notes fell in love themselves. (Sequel of sorts to Passing Notes, but can be read alone). Written by: PJCole and americalover94
1. Chapter 1

"OH Come on! You could have totally caught that pass!" Alfred yelled at the TV screen upset that his team was losing badly to a much worse team. Over all it was a pretty normal Sunday afternoon, Alfred watching his football team lose (again), Arthur reading one of his many books, and their cats fighting over the top spot on the cat tower. They sat in silence for a bit, Al pouting over his team's failure and Arthur trying to read the same page over and over again. Eventually Arthur dropped his book into his lap and sighed, annoyed.

Alfred turned and looked at Arthur asking, "What's up babe?"

"Why must it be Winter Break?" Arthur huffed as if that is a well enough answer.

At first Alfred just stared at him confused before he got up from the arm chair and joined Arthur on the couch wrapping his arm around the Brit's shoulder. "Okay what's up? I know you were looking forward to this break almost as much as I was."

"I just want to know if it worked. It'll be eating at me until I know. Why couldn't there have been one more week before break?" Arthur huffed again, crossing his arms, but not pushing Al away.

"Ah I see. You're worried about Ludwig and Feliciano." Alfred said, holding back a laugh. Arthur always was the hopeless romantic. "Well I can't say I blame you. They were pretty depressed before break, but I'm sure everything will work out fine they're smart kids." He paused in thought for a moment before adding, "Well Ludwig is at least... I'm sure they'll figure it out." Alfred comforted pulling Arthur closer to him so he could rest his head on Arthur's. A part of him wanted to tease Arthur about it, but he too had been worried about the boys, so he held his tongue.

"Still it is bothering me. I want to know how it ends." He let Al pull him closer, knowing he must sound silly, but not really caring.

"Well the worst that could happen is they go off to college and stop talking for a good eight years and then Feliciano breaks Ludwig's nose on a cute little art studio door and they fall back together and live happily ever after." Alfred finished with a grin plastered to his face.

Arthur couldn't help but laugh, "I'm rather sure we are the only people who solve problems by breaking noses."

"Ah well you never know maybe it'll become a new trend." Alfred said with a chuckle. "But really Artie don't worry about them too much. Besides I wouldn't be surprised if they were on a date right now after reading each other's essays."

Arthur sighs, "I hope so. I'm not sure if I can handle anymore of their stupidity."

"But you could handle eight years of your own?" Alfred questioned with a sly look on his face before kissing the smaller man's temple.

Arthur tries not to smile, he really does. "Whatever git. Get off me." He shrugs Al's arms off. "Go back to watching your silly game."

"Nah it's pretty much over anyways. Still can't believe Mattie's team is beating mine." Alfred grumbled. "Anyways I was about to make some coco want some?"

Arthur just shakes his head. "Tea would be nice." He smiles as Al rolls his eyes and gets up to go make the drinks. They really were stupid back then.

XXX

Arthur huffed and adjusted the equipment bag over his shoulder. How a few dozen cones and three footballs could weigh so much he did not know, but his back wasn't very happy with the current position. With a sigh he dropped the bag from his shoulder and opted to carry it in front on him, which forced him to walk like a bowlegged cowboy with back issues. If only he was more athletic; he wouldn't have to help Mr. Strout with clean up to maintain his 4.0 GPA. Gym had to be, without a doubt, the class he loathed the most. It had no redeeming qualities, just sweat and the embarrassment of walking the track while most of the other boys tackled each other in especially violent American football games. That wasn't entirely true though. There may have been one thing that made up for the waste sixth period Gym was. And its name was Alfred F. Jones.

Just thinking his name made Arthur's face heat up more than the hot afternoon already had. Alfred was basically the most attractive thing to walk to earth and Arthur had the displeasure of having to watching the beautiful boy play football as if he was a machine designed for only that task. The way his muscles pulled when he yanked his arm back like a sling shot only to be released in a snapping burst of power when he threw the ball straight into another boy's arms had to be criminal. The way the sun would dance across his golden hair and drape lazily across his tanned arms couldn't possibly be legal, let alone allowed in a small town school's football field.

He nearly ran into the locker room door with the haze that had gripped his eyes as he thought back on watching Alfred play football today while he himself had walked the track alone. Whatever higher power was in charge of his life obviously hated him, or at least had the most twisted sense of humor. Nothing else would explain the stroke of bad luck that put him and his three year crush in the same Gym class. It was one thing to slyly glance at the Quarterback's arse at a football game, but another thing entirely to constantly stop himself from watching Alfred's leg muscles as they rushing down the field. No, that wasn't fair for anyone involved-especially Arthur.

With a quick shake of the head he dropped the heavy equipment bag back in office. The coach barely grunted in response, too focused on a magazine he'd likely confiscated from one of the lockers. Arthur didn't say anything, as usual, and went into the empty locker room to change out of his sweaty uniform. If anything, he could thank the extra credit for this; he did appreciated being alone when he changed in the large room. The silence was so much nicer than the whooping and hollering that filled his ears like a buzz when everyone was in here.

He walked over to his locker, fighting the images of Alfred flashing behind his eye lids as he yawn and stretched. He sighed, deciding he might as well let his mind do as it pleased; he didn't really need to focus on opening his locker. He'd already gone over a semester with the same code and never thought when opening it. His armed pulled a little harder than necessary and flung the locker door open

"OW! SHIT MAN! GOD!" Someone yelled, holding their nose while hobbling over to the bench. A small trail of blood could be seen leaking out under their hands as they muttered a few more curse words.

A few moments pasted, where Arthur just stared at the cursing blonde, whose face was nearly completely covered by his hand. When he finally pieced together what had happened, he could feel heat creeping up his neck for the second time that day.  
"Oh my, are you alright? I'm so sorry! I didn't notice you there. Can I get you some ice? Or A Towel or-" He frantically looked around himself searching for anything to offer than man, whose nose he likely broke. He couldn't think of anything better to offer, so he haphazardly pulled off his shirt, to flustered to get embarrassed. "Here use this."

The man grabbed the shirt and looked at it for a brief second before covering his nose with it whining at the slight pressure on his nose. "God man can you open a locker or what? That friggen hurt!" The man complained as he slowly took the shirt away from his face checking to see how much his nose was bleeding. "Fuck I think you broke my nose." The blonde complained some more, his face fully exposed besides his mouth, which was still covered by the shirt while trying to stop the bleeding.

Arthur must have been legally dead for a full minute there; he was certain his heart had stopped beating for _at least_ that amount of time. Of course the blonde would be _Him_. Of course, how could he have expected it to be anyone else?  
Looking at him with accusing eyes, a slightly-blood-stained-shirt under his nose and impossibly blue eyes was the only person that he would have prayed for it not to be. He just broke the nose of Alfred F. Jones.

"Uh... I-" He looked at the floor, knowing his face must resemble a fire truck, "it usually gets stuck, so I have to pull it especially hard for it to open."

"Then buy something to lube it up dude! You should know that!" Alfred growled at Arthur looking slightly annoyed but in a kicked puppy sort of way.

Arthur looked up; a little relieved Alfred didn't seem too terribly mad with him. He fidgeted a little awkwardly, before sitting down close enough to feel Alfred's body heat, but not enough to be touching legs. "May I?" He asked gesturing to Alfred's still covered nose.

"Knock yourself out prez." Alfred said while removing the shirt so Arthur could get a better look at his nose.

Yet again, Arthur died. This time for only a few seconds, but he wasn't sure if he could deal with his heart stopping again. He didn't expect Alfred would bother to know who he was. He might do a lot with organizing event and running different parts of the school, but he mostly operated behind the scenes and was never surprised when people didn't know he was in fact the student body president. Yet, Alfred acted like it was common knowledge.  
"Uh, okay." He coughed out, forcing his heart to beat normally and leaned in closer look with furrowed brows at the slowly forming bruise. 'Definitely broken', Arthur thought. He'd had enough injures courtesy of his horrid older brothers to know a break when he saw one. He let a barely steady finger press lightly against the center of the bruise.

Alfred flinched and hissed in pain while still hoping it didn't look too bad because he had to keep up appearances; after all he was the quarterback. "So prez what's the damage?" He questioned looking at Arthur face serious, well as serious as one could look with his nose bright red with blood with a horrible bruise beginning to form and the area around it swelling.

Arthur backed up a bit and sighed. "It's most definitely broken." He looked apologetically at Alfred, before acting on impulse again. "My Mum is picking me up in a few. We could take you to urgent care if you want." He shrugged, still giving Alfred and apologetic look.

"Yea sure. Let me just run by and give my bro the keys. 'Cause I can barely see straight right now. No way in hell could I drive like this." Alfred informed the Brit, shrugging off the apology.

Arthur nodded and sat for a moment, before he finally realized he was sitting shirtless next to the hottest boy in school. He froze, thinking this time he might just die for real.

Alfred seemed to notice the same time Arthur did and looked him over once before lightly chuckling to himself, seriously how could any guy be that thin? It was almost as if Arthur was some chick who needed to be protected. 'That would explain why he always walked instead of actually participating with the other students during PE.'

"You gonna get ready?" He asked the smaller man amusement still visible in his eyes.

"Uh, yeah." Arthur answered nodding his head. It took him long enough to classify as awkward for him to stand and go to his locker and pull out his neatly folded clothes. He couldn't help but feel Alfred's eyes on his back and dared to look back, a little surprised to see Alfred's eyes filled with humor. "What?"

"Nothing, really. Though I just figured out why you do nothing but walk the track..." Alfred said vaguely, face slightly red (most likely due to his broken nose).

"Well, I don't particularly like being body slammed into dirt more than once or twice a day." He answered trying to ignore Alfred's eyes as he buttoned up his short sleeve shirt and went to unfold his sweater vest.

"Seriously dude? Are you sayin' you never went and rolled around in the dirt as a kid? 'Cause the best part about PE and sports, being slammed into the dirt and then turning around to slam that person into the dirt. Don't you think so?" Alfred questioned still slightly amused by the Brit's answer.

"Oh yes. Nothing quite like being crushed by boy's twice your size. I can't think of anything more enjoyable." He stated, pulling off his Gym shorts and willing himself to ignore that fact that 'Oh My GOD. Alfred F. Jones has seen me in my underwear!' He quickly unfolded his trousers and stepped into them just as fast.

"Well you could probably take on that Toris guy. He's about as big as you are." Alfred mused while trying not to laugh at the Brit's unicorn underwear, but not able to stop an amused smile spread across his face.

"I think I'd rather not 'take anyone on'." Arthur used air quotes, while squinting his eyes accusingly. "I'd be fine to play actual football, not as many dog piles involved." He tucked his shirt in before putting his sneakers back into his locker and pulling out his backpack and shoes. He sat back down next to Alfred slipping on his shoes, ignoring his brain's need to scream 'Are we really having an enjoyable conversation with Alfred!'

"Artie what we play is real football." Alfred concluded looking mildly annoyed and mostly confused seeing as he only knew one sort of football.

"Oh, I forgot. You gits call it... Soccer, right?" He sighed looking up, now fully dressed, before adding. "My names Arthur, not Artie." He didn't even let his mom call him that. It might have made his heart jump that Alfred tried to give him a nickname, but that didn't change how much he hated that name.

"Yea sure Artie. Let's go give the key to my bro and we can go to where your mom will be, K?" Alfred said ignoring Arthur's comments and going towards the door of the locker rooms.

Arthur sighed, but followed after Alfred. "Sure sure."

They walked in silence over to the science building where Alfred poped in and, after explaining his developing black eyes and still slightly blood stain nose, came back out with a smile gesturing Arthur to lead the way. Turning quickly to hide how this entire situation was making unhealthy amounts of blood pool in his cheeks, Arthur headed off towards the North Parking lot. They stood there waiting in silence while Arthur nervously played with his pack's straps.

"So," Alfred said over-exaggerating the "o" while breaking the silence, "When does your mom generally get here?"

Arthur looked at his watch, and then sighed. "She should get here soon. Sometimes she gets busy at work and forgets to leave on time." He looked over at Alfred and quickly added "But, she hasn't done that in a while."

"Cool." Alfred said nodding as if that information was a very serious matter. He stayed silent for a moment before asking, "Unicorns?"

Arthur groaned and covered his face in his hands, before sliding them off with a sigh. "My brothers gave them to me for Christmas, right twats if you ask me. I didn't look when I put them on." In reality he actually kind of liked the design, but no one was ever to know that.

Alfred let out a laugh, looked at Arthur. "Oh god, that makes me think of a dare I made Mattie do." He looked up, still laughing at bit. "You remember that Canadian exchange student last year? The real pretty girl that was only here for a week?" He took a moment to laugh, before continuing. "That was Mattie! He still gets all embarrassed anytime someone mentions it." Alfred was laughing hard enough to bring a few tears to his eyes mostly cause laughing hurt his nose slightly, but he wasn't going to admit that.

"That was Mathew?" Arthur said with wide eyes. Before Alfred could answer though, an old and slightly rusty car pulled up next to them. The small graying blonde women inside rolled down the passenger window and called out, "Arthur love, who's your friend? Does he need a ride?" She leaned over to get a better look and gasped "My, what happened to you nose deary?"

Arthur sighed and gave Alfred and embarrassed look before turning back to the woman. "Mum, this is Alfred. I- I accidentally broke his nose. I told him we could drive him to the urgent care."

"And here I thought I didn't have to worry about you causing problems." She shook her head in fake disappointment, turning to look at Alfred. It's nice to meet you Alfred. I'd love to give you a lift over there. Come on in." She smiled over at Alfred, ignoring Arthur's glare at her

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Kirkland." Alfred said with as bright a smile he could manage without hurting his nose more. "Thanks for the ride."

"Call me Mary." She smiled again as Arthur let Alfred slide in first. Once they were both inside, she pulled off the curb. "So Alfred, how do you know my son?" She pried as she turned out of the school and into traffic.

"Oh we have a class or two together. Plus he's the student body president, so everyone knows him." Alfred informed Mary acting as if the information was trivial.

Arthur, turned to Alfred shocked again. Alfred actually knew they had more than one class together? He had doubted Alfred even knew he went to this school.  
"Of course. My little over achiever." She said fondly, making Arthur grown. "What you do to make him break your nose though? You weren't teasing him about his fairy drawings were you." She asked.  
"Mother!" Arthur yelled in horror.  
"No need to be ashamed, they're lovely pictures." She looked back in the rear view mirror, a glint in her eye. "So what was it Alfred?"

"Well I was going to ask him if he wanted to help me study for the English test, since he seems to be really good at it, but apparently he and his locker were having a fight when I showed up. Being the hero I am, I tried to save him from the vicious metal box, but got hurt in his stead." Alfred finished his little dramatic story with a small grin and his bright blue eyes showing off amusement which was more or less because of Arthur's embarrassment for whatever reason it was kind of cute.

"Aw, well thank you for saving him. I do wish you hadn't gotten yourself hurt though. It's a shame to bruise such a nice face." Ms. Kirkland replied playing along with the dramatic story telling. Arthur might have groaned at her complimenting Alfred, but he was too distracted by Alfred's answer. Had he really wanted Arthur's help? Somehow that thought made his ever present blush creep on again.

"Ah don't worry about it, this little thing here will heal up in no time at all," Alfred said still smiling. "But I still could really use help with that English stuff. What do ya say Artie?" Alfred looked at Arthur and winked, which looked a little silly with his black eye.

"Uh... well, sure. I'd love to help." Arthur stuttered, cursing himself for sounding so eager. In the front his mother made a knowing giggle.

"Thanks man if I failed this next test my mom was so gonna kill me," Alfred said looking very relieved.

"Sure, it's no problem." Arthur answered looking down at his hands as though they held the secrets to the universe. Ms. Kirkland chuckled again from the driver seat as the pulled in to the urgent care's drive way.

When the car came to a stop Alfred stepped out of the car. His nose was still slightly bleeding but not anywhere close to what it had been twenty minutes ago. "I hope the wait isn't too bad. Last time I was here it took my ma and I three hours before the doc saw us and I had broken my arm that time." Alfred recalled with a grimace.

"How'd you manage that?" Ms. Kirkland asked as she fell in line with Alfred. Arthur walked just a tad behind them, still lost in his head and looking down.

"Oh nothing too bad, I just fell out of the big tree in our backyard. Man I haven't climbed that thing in ages now." Alfred paused and smiled before continuing with a small smirk on his face, "I bet Artie here hasn't done something like that though."

"No no, he's more of a book worm; I have to bribe him just to make him go outside. He usually just sits under a tree and reads though. Nothing like his older siblings." She giggled fondly, looking back at Arthur who just glared back at her, before speeding up to hold open the door for her as they entered the building.

"Ah that's no fun. Heck the best part about being a kid is running around hyped up on sugar and getting into trouble." Alfred said grinning while grabbing the door gesturing for Arthur to walk in before him.

Arthur blinked a few times before complying, face red once more. "Oh my older sons did plenty of that. Arthur's always been my sweet little gentlemen. He could hold his own in some of the wars he had with Alec, though."

Arthur crossed his arms and added quite proudly, "I didn't just hold my own. I beat him more often than not. He always managed to fall in to my booby traps."

Ms. Kirkland smiled. "You always were quite a pirate."

"Wow Artie never pictured you to be a violent kid. I mean wars? Really? The worst it ever got with Mattie and me is more or less harmless pranks." Alfred looked a tad bit impressed at the idea of such a scrawny guy like Arthur being able to hold his own in a fight. Then again he did say booby traps so he probably cheated in order to win.

"I never hurt them intentionally." Arthur shrugged as though that made everything okay.  
"I'm sure the twins would disagree with you on that one." Ms. Kirkland laughed nostalgically, before heading off to the line. "You boys wait on the chairs, and here," She reached into her purse and pulled out a tissue, handing it to Alfred. "You're nose is bleeding again, love." With that she turned and walked away.

"Thanks," Alfred replied before walking towards a row of three empty chairs, before sitting down in the middle chair. He looked up at Arthur with an expectant look that said sit down already and then began to dab his nose with the tissues hissing when he pressed a little too hard.

Arthur sat down next to him, feeling a little less awkward now thinking back on the good times of get back at his older siblings.

"So what sorta booby traps did you set for your brothers?" Alfred questioned.

"Oh, the usual. Trip wires, buckets of water that fall when you open the door, things like that." He said with a proud smirk.

Alfred stopped dabbing his nose to just stare at the Brit, not sure whether he should laugh or be concerned as to what Arthur's brothers did to deserve that. After all, Alfred had been raised to believe that people should treat their family kindly. "Cool." Alfred said slowly still looking at Arthur as if he was just a tad insane, especially since nothing was usual about trip wires and buckets of water.

"They had it coming, you know. They did much worse to me growing up. I once woke up with a snake on my chest." He shivered slightly remembering that wonderful morning. He'd poured milk in Dylan's sock drawer after that.

"Did you grow up in a war zone?" Alfred laughed imagining what Arthur's face would have look like when he realized a snake was on him.

"Might as well have. I guess that's what I get for being the youngest. It's nice now that they've all moved out." Arthur said with a sigh.

"I bet you still miss them though," Alfred smiled wearing a knowing look on his face. "I know I missed Mattie a lot when our dad had to take a job up in Canada for a few years and he took Mattie with him."

"I guess. I do miss Eve a bit." He said after some though. "Are you and Mathew close?"

"Heck yea I tell him pretty much everything and vice versa. We're twins you know. Sometime I think we have some sorta telepathy thing cause whenever I'm hungry his stomach will growl and it's the same for me it's so weird!" Alfred practically was shouting at the end getting a tad worked up over the idea of having super hero abilities.

Arthur couldn't help but laugh, flashing Alfred one of the most genuine smiles he's seen on the short blonde's face. "Evelyn and Eily did things like that. Thought, Alec always said they were lying."

"Geez man every three seconds I'm hearing another name how many sibling do you have anyways?" Alfred asked intrigued to know more about this British boy who was actually a pretty cool guy once you got him talking.

"Only four: Alec, Dylan, Evelyn and Eily."

Alfred let out a low whistle, "Must have been crazy with all of you trying to get ready for school in the morning. It's practically hell for me. Mattie takes forever in the shower!"

"Well Alec and Dylan are 7 and 5 years older than me respectively and the twins are 3 years older. By the time I got to high school I was alone in the house." Arthur said, as though he was describing the weather.

"Wow dude that sucks I couldn't imagine it just being my ma, pa, and me it'd be so boring and quiet." Alfred looked almost sad as though he felt bad for Arthur.

"My Father left when I was 5, I haven't talked to him since. So it's just me and my mum." Arthur replied, once again as if that was just how it was. He noticed the sad shock in Alfred's eyes and quickly added. "It's nice though with just me and Mum. She's like my best friend." He smiled, before realizing how pathetic that sounded, which made him look back down at his hands.

Alfred was quiet for a moment before he reached over with one arm and gave Arthur a sideways hug before attempting to lighten the mood. "Wow your ma is your best friend... Dude you need more friends" He paused in fake contemplation for a moment. "Hey how about you and I become friends!" Alfred exclaimed as if it was the most brilliant plan he every thought of.

Arthur looked up stuttering a bit at the contact. "Y-you can't just decide to be someone's friend."

"Why not?" Alfred asked a little pout on his face that would have been cute had it not been for the bruises that were forming around his eyes and the small bit of blood still present on his face.

"I- I don't know. It's just, people don't do that." Arthur reasoned, still very aware of Alfred's arm around his shoulder.

"Well I'm not just like other people. Here I'll tell you a secret." Alfred leaned in and whispered into Arthur's ear. "I'm actually a hero, but don't tell anyone."

Arthur's hairs stood up on his neck as he felt Alfred's smile against his ear. With a quick movement he pulled back from Alfred's grasp trying to hide his quickening pulse. "O-oh I'm s-sure. And I'm a bloody pirate." Sarcasm was always his favorite way to cover up things.

"Really well then I guess that means we're both not regular people. We can be friends right here and now." Alfred was acted oblivious to the smaller man's awkwardness it was probably because Arthur never really had many friends to begin with so he was just awkward with people.

"F-fine, whatever. But-" Arthur didn't finish, because suddenly his mother sat down on the other side of Alfred. "They'll call us up in a bit." She smiled and looked over at the two boys. "What did I miss?"

"Not much Mary. Artie here was just telling me how happy he was now that he's my friend." Alfred grinned and left his statement at that.

"Oh goodie, Arthur needs more friends. Maybe you'll be able to pull his nose out of his books ever now and again." She beamed, like it was some of the best news she'd heard all year. With a glance at her son she couldn't help but laugh. Arthur always was such a grumpy boy.

"Well that's the plan. Hey, who knows, maybe I could get him to go to a few sports games too. He could use some sun."

"He goes to all the football games, but he usually likes to watch most sports on the Telly. It's a wonder he's not paler." It was a little weird for Arthur to watch how well Alfred and his Mother got along. She was usually nice to anyone he brought home, but she seemed to really like Alfred. "Do you play any sports, Alfred?"

"Yea I was this year's first string senior quarterback. Heck I'm so good I have at least 10 colleges begging me to come play for them." Alfred boasted not really paying attention to the fact that Arthur went to every football game; everyone at school went to the games so it wasn't all that strange.

"Oh, _you're_ the Quarterback?" She said as though some puzzle had just fit it's self together. Her eyes drifted up and down Alfred, before a smile graced her lips again and she gave a teasing look to Arthur. "That must be a lot of work, how to manage your studies?" Arthur just sat staring at her while a fresh coat of red lifted to his face.

"Well Mattie helps me most of the time, but lately he's been busy trying to get into some teaching school. He wants to be a French teacher, so he's pretty good at studying. Me on the other hand, I'm the athletic one. I plan to play in the pros one day and when I get there my name will be all over the place." Alfred bore a smile that just seemed to shine confidence, as if that was the plan and there would be no deviation from it.

"Oh I'd love to see you on the Telly one day." She grinned. "If you ever need help with school make sure to ask Arthur. He's going to be an English teacher." She smiled, pride in her eyes. Arthur looked at her, begging her to stop talking.

"That would explain why he's the first into English and the last out of it." Alfred pondered out loud.

"I like talking to Ms. Flowers." He huffed, defending himself. Ms. Kirkland smiled at him.

"'Cause that's totally normal." Alfred muttered sarcastically.

"Well at least I'm not taking remedial PE" Arthur retorted.

"Uh, yea you are Art. It's me who isn't taking it. I'm actually the TA. He just never has anything for me to do so I just help teach people and everyone assumes I'm in remedial PE." Alfred said shrugging his shoulders. "In fact I picked being his TA because last year when we picked our schedules I thought I wanted to be a PE teacher but that's _so_ boring, so I'm just going to play pro football."

"I'm not in remedial PE, I just didn't take it last year because it conflicted with my Creative Writing class so I had to take it this year. I have never gotten less than an A in a class let alone failed one." Somehow this had turned into a 'well I'm still better than you' fight. Ms. Kirkland watched with a smirk.

"Artie, you do realize PE basic is a remedial course for people who have zero athletic ability or a physical disability why do you think half your class walks the field all the time?" Alfred said refusing to back down.

"Well, its credits count the same. Besides, being able to write a coherent thesis will serve me more in the real world then being able to throw a ball across a field." He crossed his arms, showing he was nothing if not stubborn.

"Unless the zombies attack 'cause then I'm gonna be the one surviving and you can just think about that thesis of yours as your being eaten." Alfred crossed his arms and huffed being completely serious about the zombies.

"If zombies did attack, which is highly unlikely, I would just set up traps and barriers around my home and use my intellect to get other people to do the heavy lifting for me. You'd be surprised what words can make people do." He answered without even pausing to think.

"Oh yea well if I was the last person on earth able to help you, I wouldn't just to prove I'm right." Alfred said leaning closer half glaring half wanting to laugh because most of the time when he pulled the zombie idea people would just laugh and brush him off. Arthur actually took him seriously. It made Alfred happy.

"You may think that's what you're doing, but in all reality you'd end up helping me without evening knowing it. Just keeping yourself alive, would help because it lower my risk of coming in to contact with a zombie with every one you killed one. Therefore, short of letting yourself die, everything you did would be aiding me whether you liked it or not." He smirked, puffing up a bit.

"Not if I left a bunch of rotting meat blocking all exits of your house so the zombies would come and start slowly eating away at it and then you would be desert." Alfred was so close to laughing now he could barely keep the smile off his face. The Brit was really taking this too seriously.

"Only I already had a secret tunnel under my house leading to an undisclosed location that is now zombie free, because the prank you pulled. Once again, you would unknowingly help me. Even in your final ditch effort to stop me. By the way, before you think of it, I would have blown up the tunnel as soon as I made it through so none of the zombies followed me. Also, you could not have known where my safe house was. I had far too many decoys for you to ever have found it." Arthur said in what seemed to be one breath. He crossed his arms tighter and smirked at Alfred as if saying 'now what'.  
"Deary, quit while you can. He's been known to go for hours." Ms. Kirkland added with a shake of the head.

"I'm getting that," Alfred laughed. "I'm also beginning to understand that he takes things way too seriously. I've just been poking him since the first zombie comment." Alfred let out a few deep chuckles before smiling at Arthur and saying, "It's rather cute actually. Reminds me of my cat: stubborn and cranky."

"You're just mad you couldn't win." Arthur said turning his head away from both of them, in a way that seemed to say 'I am better than you both, ha.'

"He's never once lost a fight. Convinced me to give him an extra scone once, just because Dylan had woken up late. I'm not sure how, but it worked." She giggled, partly with pride, but mostly amusement. Alfred laughed a bit at that comment before the nurse called him back.

"I'll wait here, you go with him Arthur." Ms. Kirkland gestured her son to follow Alfred as he stood.

"It's okay Mary he doesn't have to if he doesn't want to. I'm sure he's still formulating his zombie attack plan" Alfred teased.

"No, he's the one who broke your nose. He should go with you." She insisted.  
"Besides, unlike you, I can think and walk at the same time." He added, standing up and walking toward the nurse calling Alfred's name.

Alfred laughed and followed after him. After they got to the room Alfred sat on the exam table while Arthur sat on one of the chairs to the side of the room. "So how's that plan of attack coming, Art?" Alfred teased again.

"Brilliantly, if it all goes according to plan I will become the supreme overlord of the post-apocalyptic world." He answered with a smirk. He was rather surprised he was enjoying talking with Alfred so much, most people just called him a freak or stopped talking to him when he started arguing something.

"Oh, really?" Alfred laughed "Well have fun ruling a world with only you in it then. 'Cause when the zombies come everyone's gonna die."

"Everyone but me, then I can sit and read all day with no one bothering me about Homecoming issues or the school's lunch menu." He answered back smiling. He never expected he would get along so well with Alfred; maybe it would be nice to be his friend. Sure it would help if Alfred wasn't so drop dead gorgeous, but Arthur knew a lot about concealing his feelings.

"Ah come on, you know you love mystery meatloaf day. You'd miss it if the world ended." Alfred grinned and laughed before wincing because of his nose.

Arthur smiled back at him, before letting it fade. "I really am terribly sorry about hitting you. I should have noticed you coming up next to me."

"Well that would have defeated the purpose then, dude. I was working on my ninja skills and they must be pretty good if you didn't notice me near you." Alfred smiled again but smaller so he didn't hurt his nose.

"Still, I'm sorry. I hope it heals quickly." Arthur felt a little awkward now that their joking was over. The events of the day were really starting to sink in, as he felt the familiar heat on his face for what seemed the thousandth time that day.

"Alright well I know how you can make it up to me." Alfred said grinning devilishly.

Arthur leaned away, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "And what would that be?"

"One night filled with nothing but heart pounding, mind blowing, blissful..." Alfred stopped as to give dramatic pause to the final word.

Arthur's eyes widened as his mind battled inside him, part praying to god is was not what he thought it was going to be, while the other prayed for the exact opposite. His heart slowed to nearly a stop as he held his breath for the next word.

"Terror." Alfred grinned wickedly. "This weekend is a full moon so let's rent some scary movies and scare the crap out of ourselves!"

Arthur brows furrowed, that was defiantly not even on his list off expectations. He continued to stare at Alfred as if he had two heads, while trying to ignore the slight disappointment he felt. "Why that?"

"Well why not? Horror is so much fun to watch, but it's ever better when you have someone to watch it with you. So what do you say?" Alfred's face looked like a child's on Christmas, expectant and excited.

"I- I guess, but none of those tacky gore movies that seem to be everywhere these days." Arthur answered with a huff, as though this was really going to put him out. In reality, he couldn't help but feel a little intrigued by the idea of spending more time with Alfred.

"Awesome!" Alfred cheered. "How about this Saturday?"

"I don't think student council has anything planned." He pretended to think it through, not wanting to come off to eager. "I suppose Saturday would fine." He nodded and looked back at Alfred.

"Sweet! It's gonna be awesome. I'll pick up five, no six movies. Good ones extra scary and get some popcorn and some candy. Do you have a favorite?" Alfred began to rattle off.

Arthur was a little surprised by the enthusiasm and began to worry a bit about what he'd gotten himself into. He waved it off though. "I usually like hard candies."

"Okay then I'll get a few of those and some popcorn and..." Alfred continued to go on about how much fun they were going to have on Saturday until the doctor came in. Once they left he talked about it all the way back to his house, only pausing to give directions. When they finally got to his house he got out of the car and thanked Arthur's mother before saying to Arthur, "Can't wait for our movie date on Saturday! See you at school tomorrow Artie!" With a quick wave he ran into his house.

"I like him." Ms. Kirkland mused as Arthur moved into the front seat. "He would be a good boyfriend for you." She continued as if it was the normal thing to say.

"Mother!" Arthur nearly shrieked back at her, eyes wide in shock and embarrassment.  
"What he would." She defended, pulling out on to the street. "He's sweet. Maybe a bit cocky, but he means well and he seems to really like you." She made a little pout and looked at Arthur who was beet red and trying to form words.  
"Not in that way. Besides, I broke his nose and this is the first time we even spoken!"

"Still, I approve." She switched on the radio and went to looking straight, signifying that was the end of that discussion. Arthur stared at her a bit longer before looking straight down at his hands. Today was a weird day and he decided then not to think about it for tonight. He'd just contently ignore the fact that Alfred had said 'movie date'.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay yes I'm a terrible person but shits gone to hell depression's a bitch and this is the last thing I RPed with PJCole before she and I sorta drifted apart quite a bit she isn't as interested in hetalia anymore so I will finish this fic for you guys even if I have to write it by myself but I will warn you I can't guarantee how great it'll turn out to be so you have been forewarned… As always Hetalia doesn't belong to me and thank you for putting up with such a long break.**

"-rtie? Artie? Earth to Artie do you read me?" Alfred was waving his hand in front of the Brit's face, Arthur had been staring at the Christmas tree for the last 10 minutes and Alfred had been calling him for the past minute.

"W-what is love?" Arthur said blinking a few more times to pull himself out of his day dream.

"As I've asked about twenty times now. Where are my meds? My knee is acting up again." Alfred looked slightly annoyed which was mostly like because he was in pain.

"Oh sorry, um. They should be in the cabinet in the bathroom." He said before thinking again. "I no wait I just went and picked up a new bottle, it's on the table." He corrected gesturing towards the kitchen.

Alfred looked over at the cluttered mess they called a table it was generally kept pretty clean except when grades rolled around and Arthur had to grade all the essays he hadn't already. "Care to aid me in my search?"

Arthur sighed and walked over to the table taking only a few second to pull the bottle out from under a pile of papers. It may look like a tornado had hit the piles, but he knew where everything was. It had a system, as convoluted as the system may have been. "Here." He handed to bottle to Alfred.

"Thanks babe," Alfred kissed the Arthur's cheek quickly before going to get a glass of water. "Hey Art we should watch a movie tonight. What do ya think?"

"Alright, what do you have in mind."

"Night of the Unending Dead?"

"Why must you torture yourself?" Arthur asked with a sigh, not really agreeing, but not disagreeing either.

"I'm not torturing myself scary movies are fun!" Alfred pouted before swallowing his medication.

"Apparently you and I are in different rooms while watching scary movies. Every time I can remember usually ends with you crying and wrapped around me within the first ten minutes." Arthur said raising his eyebrows at his husband.

"That's just cause I like to cuddle." Alfred argued.

"You were literally weeping when we watched paranormal activity." Arthur added, slightly fighting the urge to laugh.

"Tears of joy that the movie was so good!"

"You ran out of the room and rocked yourself in the hallway, chanting 'it's just a movie' over and over again." Arthur smirked.

"Did not!" Alfred bore a bright red blush while looking offended that Arthur though he wasn't man enough to watch just a silly movie.

"Love, in the years I have known you, you have insisted upon watching horror movies and always ended up in my lap sobbing." Arthur sighed, he really needed to stop enabling Alfred's self-inflicted pain. "It doesn't make you any less of a man, just because movies freak you out, alright? You're still my hero." Arthur said with a smile, knowing that word usually made up for everything.

Alfred looked down and rubbed his hands together, "Really?"

"Yes." He said with a smiled, before walking to the counter and fixing himself another cup of tea. "You know it's not bad that you get freaked out. It's somewhat endearing. Besides it helped us become friends." He said, still turning back to face Alfred again.

"Huh I guess you're right. I had forgotten about that," Alfred cocked to the side remembering their first 'date.'

Okay movies? Check. Popcorn? Check. Candy? Check. Alfred made sure everything was in place for his movie night with Arthur who should arrive any moment. He looked back over the titles of the movies he had rented they were scariest movies he could find. He double checked to make sure all the tapes were rewound because he didn't want to have to wait in between movies rewinding the tapes. He just finished checking the last one when there was a knock on the door. "Got it!" Alfred shouted running to open the door. On the other side of the door stood the British boy Alfred had become quick friends with, "Hey Artie! Glad you could make it!" Alfred exclaimed at Arthur.

Arthur smiled a little awkwardly at him. "Thank you for inviting me."

Alfred beamed a bright smile at Arthur and ushered him inside. "Hurry up Artie! I wanna start watching the movies now!" Alfred took off towards the living room where they would be spending pretty much the whole night leaving Arthur and his night bag by the door.

Arthur followed after, looking around the house as he came. He kept his bag clutched close against him as he made his way into the room with Alfred. His eyes went a little wide at the candy and popcorn and stack of movies

Alfred was by the movies looking through them. "So do you feel like zombies or ghosts or vampires? I've got at least one of each." Alfred informed the Brit proud of his little collection. Alfred looked at Arthur expectantly only to find that the smaller man looking as though he was uncomfortable. Well might as well help him warm up Alfred thought to himself. "By the way you can go put your stuff in my room here I'll show you the way."

"Um, alright." He clutched his bag tighter and followed after Alfred.

Alfred walked up the stairs with Arthur following behind him. Alfred's room was of average size the walls that weren't covered in medals posters and newspaper clippings were a sandy color. He had a full size bed that looked like it couldn't remember the last time it had been made. In one corner he had a desk with a computer on top of it and some papers and school books thrown on it. His floor was pretty clean for a jock only a few shirts here and there were on the floor. Before Arthur had a chance to put his things down Alfred's mother called him back downstairs. "Gah! Hey I'll be right back feel free to look around." And with that Alfred took off down the stairs.

Arthur glanced around the room, dropping his bag on the bed, before moving it to the floor. He glanced at some of the posters, mostly of sports teams, then scanner over the medals. Alfred was the star Quarterback for a reason. He turned around to go back down stares when he notices the newspaper clippings; he scanned over them, expecting them all to be about football. His eyes widened as he saw one about him and then another and then another scattered around the wall. He couldn't bring himself to look for anymore so he quickly went out of the room and went down stairs.

"Hey Artie are you cool with pot roast for dinner?" Alfred asked when he saw Arthur coming down the stairs. "What's the matter you look like you've seen a ghost?" Alfred put an emphasis on the word ghost trying to make it sound scarier than a word should be.

"Uh, oh sorry. Just lost in thought. Pot roast sounds lovely." He smiled again, adjusting the hem of his sweater vest nervously.

"Okay well my ma's in the kitchen finishing it up and Mattie should be home around dinner time he's hanging out with some of the kids from French club right now. Hey maybe we can get him to watch some of the movies with us!" Alfred wouldn't admit it but scary movies were just that scary and the more people there were with you the less scary they were.

"That would be nice. Does your mother need any help?" He asked still messing with clothes.

"Probably not. Anyways let's watch the first movie. You can go pick I have to ask my mom something really fast." Alfred went back to the kitchen to inform his mother not to let Arthur help even if he asked to. No one from the senior class will ever be able to forget the disaster that was Arthur when he helped the kitchen staff for volunteering hours. Alfred shivered just remembering that day 63 students had to be taken to urgent care because of food poisoning.

Arthur was standing and staring at a line of movies he had lines up on the couch.

"So found one you want to watch?" Alfred asked walking back into the room.

Arthur gave him a pleading look, before looking back at the line. "Uh, I..."

"What you too chicken to pick one?" Alfred teased.

"I just, there is too many of them. Do we want zombies, or ghost or, whatever this thing is." He said gesturing to one of the cases.

"Whatever you want, you're the guest so you get first pick. Oh but that zombie one with the hot chick on the cover I heard it's pretty good lotsa boob action if you know what I mean." Alfred winked at Arthur a sly smile on his face. "But we should save that for after my parents go to bed."

Arthur's face went a bit red and he quickly looked back down at the movie line, grabbing one at random and handing it to Alfred. "Here this one."

"Hmm the classic Dracula movie? Old fashion much? Alright well grab a seat and I'll get it set up." Alfred took the movie and popped it in the VHS player and as he fast-forwarded through the commercials he let his mind wander over to how strange Arthur acted around him. Seriously unless that guy had some blood disorder he blushed way more than the average person. Yesterday when they were changing in PE Alfred had wondered over to where Arthur's locker was to ask him what time he was coming over on Saturday and he could have sworn Arthur broke right there. The poor guy's mouth acted like a fish out of water and his whole body turned red and he just stared at Alfred's bare chest. For some strange reason Alfred found the way the Brit was acting to be cute. Finally the movie title page appeared and Alfred hit play before joining Arthur on the couch.

They were probably five minutes into the movie before Alfred started feeling like someone was watching him which made him scoot closer to Arthur and within another five minutes Alfred was practically glued to the smaller man's side with his feet up and arms wrapped around his knees.

Arthur seemed to ignore it at first, but now he kept glancing over at Alfred, sitting like he was visiting the queen. "Are you alright?"

"Y- yeah fine. D-don't worry about m- me." Alfred stuttered flinching when the bats flew out suddenly in the movie.

Arthur hesitated a moment, before shifting a little so he could put a hand on Alfred's shoulder. "Are you sure?"

Alfred flailed out at the sudden touch screaming in surprise. "D- don't do that g- god you scared t- the crap outta me."

Arthur backed up looking, almost hurt, but he actually smiled a little before sitting back against the couch. "Sorry sorry."

"I- it's fine." Alfred mumbled before turning his attention back to the movie slightly wondering why Arthur looked so hurt. Did he say something bad? Not that he could recall. After a moment of thought he brushed it off as just his imagination.

Alfred suffered through the movie some more trying to act brave even at the parts that made him want to flee the room. It was about half way through the movie when the true terror began; right when a door creaked open slowly Alfred's front door did the same and in through it walked a figure with a black cape and hair back in a short low pony tail. The figure said in a heavily accented voice "Alfred come here." And with that Alfred shrieked in terror jumping up on Arthur's lap screaming something along the lines of, "Don't eat me I taste terrible!" while clinging to the Brit as tightly as he could.

Arthur didn't move at first just staring and the figure, before saying a little breathy, "Hello Mathew."

Alfred stopped screaming and blushed slowly getting off of Arthur's lap. "Ahaha of course I knew it was you Mattie, I was just trying to scare Artie here a bit hahaha." Alfred nervously ran a hand through his hair looking at anywhere in the room except Arthur's face.

"Sure you did Al. Just get over here and help me carry in some stuff. They made me take it all home." Matt replied, turning to Arthur. "Please excuse my brother, he has mental issues and need therapy."

Arthur just nodded, silently wondering why he didn't hang out with Mathew very often. It was probably because he never saw him, even though he could have sworn they had two classes together. Maybe he had switched out.

"Wha- do not you ass!" Alfred argued shoving Mathew slightly. "If anyone has the issues it's you ya friken ninja seriously when are you gonna tell me how you disappear all the time?"

Mathew just deadpanned, "I don't I almost always tell you when I'm leaving you're just too dense to remember."

"Lies!" Alfred shouted while he took a few of the things Mathew was carrying. "What are these for anyways?"

"I don't even know anymore. They want to do a skit or something." He said giving a few things to Arthur who had suddenly appeared next to Alfred and offered to help.

"What about?"

"Jesus Christ Arthur!" Alfred flinched shocked by Arthur's sudden appearance. "Seriously what ninja club are you two apart of I wanna join."

Arthur looked at him for a second before laughing. "Sorry sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I'm not a vampire I promise." He laughed out.

Alfred found himself blushing again as to why he could not be sure but his best guess had to be how cute Arthur sounded and looked when he laughed."Yea I figured after all you don't have any issues with the sun so you must be good."

Arthur chuckled some more, before Matt gestured for them to follow him to one of the closets in the hallway.

As they were putting the stuff in the closet Alfred and Mathew's mother called everyone to dinner. "Yes finally wait till you taste Ma's cooking she's the best!" Alfred shouted shoving the rest of the things into the closet and grabbed Arthur's wrist effectively dragging him to the dining room where all the food and plates were set up.

Arthur's face was hot, when they got in the room and Alfred still held his wrist. Matt looked at them and smirked walking to sit down at the table.

Alfred quickly led Arthur to where they would be sitting and sat down quickly. He sat there bouncing his legs and just staring at the food knowing he couldn't have any until everyone was seated and grace was said.

Arthur sat awkwardly looking around, hands clasped in his lap. Mathew looked between him and Alfred a few times before catching Alfred's eye and smiling devilishly.

Alfred glared at him as if to say 'try it I dare you because I'm not afraid to dye your hair purple again if you even consider saying what I think you are.'

"Hey Al, are sure it's okay if I watch the movie with you. I don't want to come between you and Arthur's lap." He smiled again.

"Shut up the movie just startled me it doesn't mean anything!" Alfred shouted at his brother who still bore a devilish grin. Al chanced a glance at Arthur hoping Mathew's comment didn't make him feel weird to his surprise Arthur looked practically frozen well as frozen as one can look when their face goes cherry red. 'That's weird Mattie's comment wasn't that weird more rude rather than anything so why is Arthur blushing?' Alfred thought.

"Alfred F. Jones we do not curse in this house you know that! And Mathew Williams I swear if you bother your brother's friend again I'm going to take away Kumakitchi." The Mrs. Jones reprimanded giving both her sons a stern look.  
"Yes listen to your mother boys," Mr. Jones agreed as he finally came into the dining room.

"But Mattie started it!" Alfred whined.

"I was just getting back at you for gum in my hair this morning." Matt answered crossing his arms. Arthur started staring at his hands.

"I told you already it wasn't me!" Alfred countered.

"What did aliens come in and put it in my hair?" Matt said back. Arthur sunk further into his chair.

"Probably and I'm glad they did cause you're such a jerk!" Alfred didn't notice the Brit trying to melt into his chair sitting next to him.

"I was just having fun, you could learn how to take a joke!" Matt was trying to yell, but his raspy voice wasn't really helping.

"Or you could learn how to stop tormenting my friends every time they come over!" Alfred shouted back. At this point Mr. Jones had got up looking very displeased. Both boys became quiet when they heard their father stand up, Alfred looked at his father and flinched knowing he was in some deep trouble.

"This is very disrespectful to our guest either both of you need to stop this pointless argument or Arthur needs to go home. Do I make myself clear?" Mr. Jones said in a heavy tone that spoke waves of authority.

"Yes Sir," Alfred mumbled feeling bad for forgetting about Arthur who was sitting right next to him.

Arthur sunk further into his chair. Matt looked down. "Sorry."

"Sorry," Alfred replied back before sitting back down silently.

Arthur looked over at him for a second, before looking down again. Matt continued looking down.

"Shall we say grace now?" Mr. Jones questioned and everyone at the table nodded silently bowing their heads and folding their hands. Mr. Jones said a quick prayer and then put food on his plate.

Dinner was a very awkward and silent affair and once the boys finished they asked to be excused and Alfred lead Arthur up to his room mumbling something about waiting till his parents fell asleep before watching the rest of the movies. The rest of the night was a blur of terror that Alfred had effectively wiped from his memory so as not to leave any lasting emotional trauma. But if you asked Arthur the night finally ended in the early morning with Alfred demanding to sleep with the lights on sleeping in between Arthur and Mathew snoring loudly.

**A/N: Thank you again for putting up with me. I'll try to write the next part as soon as I can but it'll take awhile I'm sorry the semester is wrapping up and my mom really wants me to get a job but I'll try to update as soon as I can. Love you guys! Rates and reviews are adored. :)**


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